Following
up on its redesigned $20 bill and
$50 bill, the Treasury Department
and its Bureau of Engraving and Printing have unveiled the new $10 bill.

The
new $10 bill features a revised portrait of Alexander Hamilton. Like previous
currency presidents before him, his portrait has been enlarged and modified
to remove the large oval around his picture. His shoulders also extend
into the background of the note.

The
new note is expected to make its way into general circulation beginning
in early 2006. Between now and then, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing
will print roughly 800 million of the new bills, featuring a long list
of new features designed to thwart counterfeiting.

For
starters, the background of the new bill features a slight orange tint.
To the right of Hamilton's portrait is the phrase "We the People"
in red behind the U.S. Treasury seal. To the left of Hamilton's portrait,
you'll find a red image of the Statue of Liberty's torch. And dotted around
the torch are small 10s in yellow, which are difficult for counterfeiters
to reproduce digitally.

The
increase in digital counterfeiting has been dramatic. In 1995, digitally
produced counterfeit notes accounts for less than 1 percent of all detected
fakes. Today, that number has jumped to about 54 percent of all counterfeit
notes.

The
bill also features color-shifting ink. When you tilt the $10 bill up and
down, the number "10" to the right of Hamilton will shift from
copper to green.

Other
anti-counterfeiting measures include a watermark, similar to the portrait,
which is part of the paper itself and harder to counterfeit. The new ten
also includes a special security thread that repeats "USA TEN".
This thread glows orange when the $10 bill is held underneath an ultraviolet
lamp.

Microprinting
has also been incorporated into the bill. The words "USA" and
"10" can be found repeated beneath the large printed torch,
and the words "THE UNITED STATE OS AMERICA" and "TEN DOLLARS"
can be found below the portrait, as well as vertically inside the left
and right borders of the note.

On
the back of the bill, the numbers "10" are represented in the
four corners of the bill in some new fonts, with a large "10"
in the lower right corner. The large "10" is designed to help
make the note easier to see for the sight-impaired.

You'll
start seeing the new $10 notes in early 2006. And don't worry if you still
have older $10 bills, since any old tens are still legal tender.

The
U.S. Treasury plans to redesign bills every 7-10 years to keep pace with
counterfeiters. Next up will be a revamp of the venerable $100 bill. Originally,
the $100 bill was going to revamped sooner. However, the Treasury Department
is taking longer to redesign the $100 to add more anti-counterfeiting
features, since it is the most popular note of counterfeiters outside
the U.S.

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